“Our forces have courageously managed to limit and neutralise the threat from these fanatics who were fiercely determined to carry out a complete and utter massacre of everything that showed signs of life at the hotel,” he said. “Forces from friendly countries, including France, the US and Minusma, contributed to bringing a speedy end to this tragedy, which could have been even bigger.”

The attackers had “nothing to do with the religion of Mohammed, a peaceful religion”, he went on.

Three suspects are now being sought, a security source told the AFP news agency, without giving further details so as not to compromise the investigation.

The Al-Mourabitoune group of Algerian jihadist Mokhtar Belmokhtar has claimed responsibility for an operation carried out in conjunction with Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.

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An emergency cabinet meeting chaired by Keita declared a 10-day state of emergency to help the search for “terrorists on the run and possible accomplices” and three days of mourning to start on Monday.

Former Tuareg separatists, who allied with Islamist armed groups to take over the north of Mali in 2012 but have accepted a peace deal with the government, condemned the attack.